Others depict scenes from Midderidge Drift in Shildon in County Durham, using watercolour, pen and ink, and felt tip pen.

Some of the works to be auctioned show the domestic life of miners, such as a pitman in his tin bath near the fire and another who has fallen asleep in front of the kitchen range after a shift.

Another shows a miner arriving home from the pit as the lady of the house “posses” the laundry.

It is believed that Ron Gribbons was born near the pit at Chopwell, but little is known about him.

Examples of his paintings can be found in the National Coal Mining Museum for England near Wakefield.

Artwork by Ron Gribbons of a man working down the pit (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

The Chatterley-Whitfield Colliery Mining Museum at Stoke-on-Trent had over 200 of his works before they were sold in 1994 when the museum closed.

“He is a self-taught artist of talent who documented the lives of colliers in a meticulous fashion. He has given us an extensive archive of underground working practices and also domestic scenes. These are valuable social documents.

“But he is a mystery artist because, despite research, we have no details of his life,” and that is baffling,” said Anderson and Garland picture specialist John Anderson.

“We would be delighted to hear from anyone who can add anything about Ron Gribbons.”

Scenes of colliery life by Ron Gribbons (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

The collection is being sold by Robert Heath, whose late father Melvyn, who lived in Stoke, owned the images.

He worked as an electrician in the mining industry and also travelled around the coalfields with mining rescue teams.

His travels included the North East and he may have known Ron Gribbons. But as he came from Stoke, he may have bought the artworks in the local museum auction.

“My father loved these artworks and had several on the walls of his home. They are fantastic for anyone with a relationship or links to mining,” said Robert.